ENMU-R librarian elected president of peer organization

ENMU-Ruidoso's campus librarian, James Pawlak, was elected president of the New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries.

Pawlak has been campus librarian for the past 16 years. Previous to coming to Ruidoso, Pawlak was a technical assistant at the Miller Library at Western New Mexico University in Silver City and the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Library at Purdue University.

NMCAL began in 1988 as an outgrowth from a strategic plan by the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education. The original organization was comprised of 16 members. Today NMCAL has 32 members. All academic institutions are eligible for membership, including community and two-year colleges, four-year and research universities and as well as accredited, independent institutions of higher education.

The main purposes of the organization are to provide a forum for sharing resources and facilitating access to the services available in academic libraries. Funding, collection development and networking possibilities are issues addressed by the organization. During this year's legislative session, members will converge on Santa Fe during Library Legislative Day to promote the upcoming Bond B. Passage of the bond two years ago allowed for the purchase of eBooks and seven databases, made available to all institutions through a consortia purchase.

Pawlak will assume his position this summer. He has big plans to promote this year's Bond B. He also plans to implement revisions to NMCAL's by-laws to encourage participation and membership. As president-elect, Pawlak is required to plan the two-day retreat, which will be held this summer. These retreats typically take place in the president's hometown.

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"Ruidoso is a good place for the retreat to take place," Pawlak said. "The directors like the area. It is centrally located and they like to come here to have fun."

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